On Wednesday, I was asked to substitute teach for a 3rd grade class. The class was rowdy, but some of the kids were more trouble than others. One child in particular "B" made my job difficult by being sullen and disobedient all day. Waiting for music class to begin, I was playing "do this - do that" with the kids while we stood lined up outside the music room door, when B hits the girl in front of him as hard as he can. Though I didn't see it happen, I saw the girl crying and asked B if he hit her. He readily admitted hitting her for no reason, but refused to apologize. Unfortunately, appealing to his conscience didn't work, so I tried a character approach to show right vs. wrong. After a moment, he screams "I'm sorry" as loud as he could. Another teacher stepped in to show me how to send him to the principal's office in that school.Later, B comes back to class much subdued. As long as B sat with me, they did fine, but they did require constant supervision. Having a half hour of school time left with nothing assigned, I decided to do a character lesson. The definition of attentiveness is showing the worth of a person or a task by giving my undivided concentration. I asked the kids what worth meant, and one girl said it's like money. "Exactly." I explained that If you have a 5 dollar bill, it's worth $5, and if you have a 100 dollar bill, it's worth $100. Each person is worth something, because everyone is special, designed to do something that no one else can do. B looks at me and says "Miss Sutton, I'm worth 200 million dollars." To this I quickly answered "Oh no, B, you are worth much more than that!"
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